Stealing Humanity

The horrific murders in Arizona, in a sane world, would have been an occasion for most of us--those of us with no direct connection to the victims (or the alleged perpetrator)--for sober reflection. Reflection on the tenuous nature of our existence on this world, how quickly a comfortable, easy life can turn into a horrible ordeal, or worse. Reflection on the fundamentally flawed nature of all humans. Reflection, perhaps, on how we have dealt and continue to deal with those troubled souls among us.

What we have been treated to instead is the spectacle of one politically-obsessed group using the event to yet again attack the very humanity of another group.

I'm talking about people like Markos Moulitsas, figurehead of the "progressive" Daily Kos web site, and other "progressives" who rushed to use inflammatory rhetoric to accuse their political opponents of causing the shooting by using inflammatory rhetoric. I'm talking about people like "redheadonfire2" who on Twitter spewed "I think Sarah Palin should get shot instead of Gifford!!!"

The goal is consistent: to dehumanize conservatives as political opponents.

People who do not speak out to denounce this behavior, at this time, are indeed guilty of a kind of blood libel--or at best, guilty of being a silent accessory to blood libel. Does it surprise you to know that a law professor was the first to use the term "blood libel" in a major media outlet--not Sarah Palin? Why haven't you been told that? Could it be that there might just possibly be a slight . . . bias against Mrs. Palin in the media outlets you're depending on?

It's become a cliche to trot out the Martin Niemoeller quote ("First they came for the Communists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist . . ."). But consider: are there, just maybe, certain, special times in history when the quote rings particularly true?

One effect of the blood libel against conservatives is that they, the conservatives, have been denied the ability to join with the rest of the country in properly grieving and reacting to the Arizona shootings. Denied by those very people who self-righteously claim that they simply care more about people than the rest of us. The "progressives" have, essentially, stolen a piece of humanity from the conservatives that they are attacking. An objective person must at this point ask: how much do "progressives" really care about their fellow citizens, and how much of their posturing and rhetoric is just a cloak for a naked lust for raw political power?

Those on the left pointing fingers should go off and do some serious soul-searching, and remember another cliche my mother was fond of quoting: "When you point a finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at you."